


But Inside You're Just A Little Baby

by orphan_account



Series: Adoption [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluffy Ending, Gen, Iron Dad, Irondad, Light Angst, Multi, Other, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, spider son, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 17:02:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17922824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Peter's sixteenth birthday is a month after his aunt and uncles deaths. He feels guilty for wanting to have fun. Tony helps him through it.





	But Inside You're Just A Little Baby

Peter awoke to a soft knocking on his bedroom door. He groaned and turned to look at his clock. Why was someone waking him up so early? It was summer break and he wanted to sleep as much as possible.  
The knocking started again “Pete? Can I come in bud? Are you still sleeping?”  
Peter recognized Mr. Starks voice instantly and pushed himself up in bed, “come in” he called in his gravelly morning voice.  
The door to Peter’s bedroom burst open and Mr. Stark walked in carrying a tray with a pile of homemade waffles covered in berries and syrup with a candle in the middle. “Happy birthday, Peter!” he proclaimed with a big smile on his face.  
Peter was confused for a moment. His birthday? It was his birthday? Was it August already? That meant he only had a few weeks left before school started. Peter was sixteen today, old enough to get his driver license and soon he’d start his Junior year of high school. He was almost an adult, half done with high school. The thought of growing up was both exciting and terrifying to Peter. He’d been so excited about all of it before but now he was kind of dreading it. Everything had already changed so much in his life recently. Just over a month ago he’d lost his aunt, uncle, his home and everything he’d owned in a fire. Now Mr. Stark had taken custody of him, adopted him maybe? Peter wasn’t sure. He lived in the tower now with Mr. Stark and had met a lot of the Avengers. Peter knew he should be excited about getting older, and about getting closer to finishing high school but something inside of him wasn’t excited about those things. Growing up meant more change. Finishing high school in a couple years would mean, leaving his friends and Mr. Stark, the only ones that were getting him through everything. Peter wasn’t okay, he still missed his aunt and uncle and there were some days when all he could do was fall apart, but then there were some days where he could smile and talk to Mr. Stark or to Ned and he felt okay, maybe he’d never feel whole again, but maybe he never did in the first place. His heart would always ache but when he had people who genuinely loved him unconditionally, he knew he’d make it through.  
So, he looked up at Mr. Stark and smiled when he lit the candle.  
“Blow it out kid! Make a wish!”  
Peter closed his eyes and blew out the candle and made his wish. He looked up at Tony smiled again and thanked the man. Tony ruffled Peter’s hair and told him to enjoy the food and join him downstairs when he was finished.  
“Wait, Mr. Stark!” He continued when Tony turned to look at him curiously, “My wish was that you’d join me for breakfast. Share the waffles with me?”  
“Sure thing buddy.”  
Gosh. Tony loved this kid. His kid.  
Peter just wanted his mentor… his guardian… his Mr. Stark… his dad? He didn’t know what to refer to Tony as in his head anymore. He still called him Mr. Stark out loud, but maybe someday he’d call him Tony or maybe if Tony wanted, he’d call him dad. Peter wondered why Mr. Stark had never addressed that with him. Maybe he just wanted things to stay the way they were? Maybe he didn’t want to be Peter’s dad? Maybe it was too soon, it had only been a month, but Peter had always wanted a dad. Uncle Ben was his uncle and that was enough, Peter had never wanted him to be his dad or to be anything other than his Uncle Ben. Aunt May was the same. Growing closer to Mr. Stark had felt right, like he was meant to have this man in his life, and if he was always Mr. Stark to Peter then that would be okay, but Peter really thought of Mr. Stark as his dad sometimes. Then again, he was sixteen now. Maybe he didn’t need a dad. Sixteen-year-old’s shouldn’t need someone to help them get to sleep, or to hold them when they cry, or coach them through a panic attack, Peter thought. Maybe he shouldn’t let Mr. Stark help him so much. Maybe he should stop thinking about Mr. Stark as a dad and just keep thinking of him as a mentor. He’d probably only took Peter in because he was Spider-Man, and as soon as Peter turned eighteen he’d have to be grown up enough to go out on his own, so maybe instead of focusing on having a father-son relationship with Mr. Stark, he should just focus on his training and the things he could learn from the man. He really didn’t want that, but did Tony? He wasn’t sure.

” You’re thinking awfully hard there kid.”  
“Wha..? Oh,” Peter chuckled nervously, “sorry Mr. Stark.”  
“S’ok, it’s kinda early to have any riveting conversations anyway.”  
The two finished their waffles and Tony took the tray and dishes back to the kitchen after telling Peter to think about what he wanted to do for his birthday.  
Peter showered and got dressed and headed into the living area.  
“Hey, Mr. Stark?”  
“Yeah Pete? You figure out what you wanna do today?”  
“Not yet, I just… I keep thinking and… I was wondering if you think it’s okay that I stopped being sad. Well, I mean I am definitely still sad. Like all the time, but not so bad, not as much as I was. I guess I’ll always be sad but would they be mad ‘cause it’s only been a month and I’m like… less miserable now and..”  
“Peter,” Tony smirked, “you’ll always be a little sad, I get it, believe me, but it’s like you’re learning to breathe again, right?” Tony continued when Peter nodded gratefully at his interruption, “It’s like you can still feel all the pain and you still miss them all the time but more and more you’re finding that you’re able to enjoy things again and you’re not thinking about them as much?”  
Peter ducked his head shamefully. He felt terrible that he was still living, that time was just going on and his aunt and uncle weren’t, and even worse that he was finding himself thinking about them less each day.  
“Hey hey buddy,” Tony picked Peter’s head up with 2 fingers under his chin, “they wouldn’t be mad, I promise. They wanted you to have a great life. I heard them tell you to have fun all the time, they loved you and they knew you loved them, that would never change, no matter what. They still wanted you to have fun and enjoy things after your parents died so they’d definitely want you to still enjoy lifeand be happy now. It’s why they left you to me, Peter. They said they knew you were usually pretty happy when you were hanging out with me. I hope they were right!”  
“I… yes! Of ourse they were!. Thanks Mr. Stark, you’re right.” Peter gave little smile in Tony’s direction, and Tony pulled him into a hug that he happily returned.  
“So now, what do you want to do for your birthday?”  
“I don’t know. Ned’s at his grandparents until school starts ‘cause his parents are on a cruise, usually he and I go to the Lego store and get a new set. Go to lunch, maybe see a movie, then we’d go to my house and build the Lego’s, have some cake, and make a fort or something and play video games or get on the internet or whatever.”  
“Well hey if you don’t mind your old man tagging along, you and I could do all that stuff?”  
“Really? I mean I am sixteen, so I’m probably too old to do most of that stuff now. Maybe we could, just ya know, go see a movie and then you probably have stuff to do after that?”  
Tony sighed and put his hand on top of Peter’s head, “Kid, it’s your birthday. If you think I didn’t clear my whole schedule to spend the day doing whatever you want to do, then you don’t know me very well.” Tony quirked an eyebrow when Peter looked up hopefully at him. “And as far as you being too old for that stuff, you’re not. You’re still a kid, and even if you were turning twenty-six instead of sixteen I’d say the same thing. If something makes you happy, then who cares how old you are? You like Lego’s, let’s go get you the best Lego set that we can find and build the heck out of it.”  
Peter chuckled, “Thanks Mr. Stark.”  
Later that night after they’d built Lego’s for hours with Peter’s favorite films played in the background and they’d eaten Peter’s favorite takeout food and had way too much cake and ice cream, Tony found himself on the couch with a sleepy Peter nestled up against his side, head on Tony’s chest and one hand clutching Tony’s shirt. Tony moved one hand in firm circles on Peter’s back and the other scratched gently at Peter’s scalp and through his tangled curls.  
“I had the best day ever today, thank you.” Peter looked up at Tony through his half-lidded eyes.  
“Me too, Little Spider. Thank you for being born so we could celebrate. I love you, Peter.” Tony kissed the top of Peter’s head.  
“I love you too,” Peter answered, relaxing even more and letting himself drift off to sleep with his dad. Yeah, he’d decided. Inside his head, Mr. Stark was definitely his dad.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading my short Irondad fic! Wish I had more time to add details and make my stories longer and better but I work a lot and love writing when I can, so hopefully you can still enjoy!
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer-I do not own any characters or anything- it's all Marvel.


End file.
